Official: Organic beef possible at plant

Unknown whether there will be demand for it

Unknown whether there will be demand for it

April 12, 2007|By Scott Waltman, American News Writer

BATH - An increase in demand for organic beef could be a good thing for a planned beef plant just south of Aberdeen. Doyle Brasher of Northern Beef Packers said that the plant could easily produce organic or natural beef if there was a demand for it. Whether there will be remains to be seen. Brasher made his comments during a Wednesday night meeting in Bath. Five people attended what wound up being a casual question-and-answer session sponsored by the group Vote Yes For Regional Growth, which supports an estimated $8.6 million in tax increment financing for the plant. On April 24, Brown County residents will be asked to approve a TIF district for Northern Beef Packers. With a TIF, property taxes generated by new developments are used to pay for certain improvements on that property. The increase in the value of the property as improvements are made raises the taxes charged on the property. In a TIF, the difference in taxes between the original assessed value and the improved value - the increment - goes toward the cost of the qualified improvements as opposed to a local government to freely spend. That continues until TIF bonds are paid off, up to 20 years. Organic possibility: Norg Sanderson, a beef plant supporter, said the 1,500 head of cattle processed each day at Northern Beef Packers will all have identification tags. That will make it easy to track which animals would be natural or organic. Each cut of meat in each box will be identifiable, Brasher said. Some of the animals have identification tags because they will be part of the South Dakota Certified Beef program, which requires the animals be tracked from the time they are born to the time they become boxed beef. But, Sanderson said, livestock not in the program will get their own identification tags so their blood can be tracked. Sanderson is a partner in IKOR, a blood research and processing company that plans to build next to the beef plant. IKOR will use the bovine blood in pharmaceutical and other products. The federal Food and Drug Administration, Sanderson said, will require that the blood IKOR processes be able to be tracked back to specific animals. Hence the need for tags on all animals. Brasher said the federal government will also require strict security at the plant. There will be a fence around Northern Beef Packers and security cameras will track comings and goings. Employees will have to wear identification tags and trucks will be logged in and out, he said. The high security is required by the Department of Homeland Security, Brasher said.